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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27471535">price for a name</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torchicpox/pseuds/Torchicpox'>Torchicpox</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Helix Waltz (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Headcanon, Kissing, Mandaria Illusion, Supernatural Elements</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:02:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>871</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27471535</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torchicpox/pseuds/Torchicpox</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Magda is her name, and yet not her name. As for Loong, she'd be foolish to believe that to be his name.</p><p>But names hold Power, and the price to taking something not meant to be taken might just be too much for Magda.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Magda Ellenstein/Mr. Loong</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>price for a name</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I mean, have you looked at Loong? The possibilities are endless</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She's in the corner of Loong's store, the part where she's not sure if it's part of a dream or a fabric of reality he snatched and stored away for his own amusement. The air is heavy with smoke that makes her feel slightly flighty, like she's in a dream and yet not.</p><p>This is how it is with Loong, if that even is his real name. </p><p>Once, when she asked him, he had grinned and answered, tipping her chin up so that she could see the slit of his golden eyes, "Names hold power, and you, my dear," he pauses, assessing, gauging, seeing her for who she is, "...are far too curious for your own good."</p><p>That moment had left her breathless, as if she's just stood at the sharp end of a knife. "Is there a price?" She had breathed out, an involuntary question she did not have time to think over.</p><p>The sharp corners of his eyes had curved even further in pleasure, as if he's pleased with her question. </p><p>"Oh Magda," he threw the name carelessly, as if he knew it's not even her name. For all she knew, he actually knows it's not. "Everything has a price. The question here is, are you willing to pay it?"</p><p>It's been the 71th iteration of the same small world, and the terror isn't even registering the same way anymore. She's opted off from experiencing Chu Wanti's last moments ages ago. The feeling of burning alive leaves an ashen taste whenever she wakes up again in the first day of the court, and she's since learnt that by that point, not much will have changed to matter.</p><p>She wonders if there's even a point to this.</p><p>In that limbo between her iterations, she's taken to merely hanging around in Loong's corner. There are never any other customers, and here time as well as consequences seem to not matter, as she could spend as long as she wants and still come back to the same time she left.</p><p>Always, all throughout her stay, Loong smiles at her in his vaguely serpentine way, quietly tinkering with various wares and trinkets she never dare touch.</p><p>Chu Wanti's world had came to her in a box the size of a palm, and she finds it ominous to imagine there are other lives and souls inside the collection he's amassed in his corner.</p><p>"What's the price for your name?" She asks.</p><p>He narrows his eyes, turns calculating eyes at her, before stalking to where she lays upon heaps of throw pillows, uncaring of manners or decorum.</p><p>"Why?" Then, with something she could have sworn is hunger, he hisses, "Will you pay the price?"</p><p>Just like that moment when she first asked, the moment feels loaded, like staring at the mouth of a cocked gun. Strangely enough, she feels almost thrilled now.</p><p>"Kiss me," she says. </p><p>Loong's smile widen. He's coming closer to her, the edge of his form blurring, the shine of his eyes turning molten, and the edge of his smile showing sharp fangs. Like this, she feels like taunting a beast out of its form, like courting danger.</p><p>"Why, dear Magda...are you bargaining?" There's a low note of a threat now. Loong looks equal parts entertained, intrigued, and affronted.</p><p>Magda feels bold enough to shrug and pull at the crisp lapels of his coat. "I don't know, are you buying it?"</p><p>A hint of a true smile curls around the edge of his mouth, sharp and inhuman. "Very well. I accept."</p><p>The moment of his words feels heavy with power, with promise, and in the next moment, they're kissing. </p><p>Magda's kissed and been kissed, both as Magda and Chu Wanti. But Loong kisses like- like he's devouring her. Savagely, tenderly, all at the same time. Like this is his due and he'll take to his heart's desire.</p><p>Magda finds herself giving, giving into his mouth and his hold and the pull of Power, amplified even more than the times she's conducted transactions with him before. </p><p>They kiss like that for a long time, long enough for Magda to gasp for forgotten breath after they part. Loong's hold on her neck felt like a scorching brand, Magda's half convinced where he holds her would show even until her next iteration. Loong smiles down at her, sharp canines showing without a hint of reserve, like he's given up on trying to hide.</p><p>"You've let me partake," he purrs, sounding delighted. Magda's mind is foggy enough for her only to nod dazedly.</p><p>Her mind feels singed, like it's touched somewhere she shouldn't, seen something better left unseen. They kissed, but Magda feels like what they just did went deeper, going so far to the soul. Claiming, branding, owning.</p><p>In her dazed state, she almost (keyword being almost) doesn't hear her due payment. The Power she had inadvertently bargained for.</p><p>"My name is Hakurou."</p><p>When he says it, it's the flash of thunder, the heat of a molten sun, the kaleidoscope of a thousand souls, all in a voice reverberating in her mind.</p><p>Magda inhales and takes it, settles with the knowledge in her soul. When she opens her eyes back, they are slitted gold.</p>
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